PayPal limited my account and is holding my money

Check your options

Choose the route that fits your situation. Official guidance and external experiences are labelled separately.

1. official route

   Do every step the Resolution Center asks

   1. Log in on the web and open the Resolution Center (or the bell icon on your Dashboard). The limitation and the steps to remove it are listed there.
   2. If you got an email saying your account is limited but nothing shows in the Resolution Center, it may be fake: forward it to [email protected] and don't click its links.
   3. Upload every document it asks for: a legible photo ID showing all four corners, proof of address dated within the last 12 months and, if you sell, supplier invoices and proof of delivery. Names and addresses must match your PayPal account.
   4. Once all steps are done, the review usually takes 3 business days and PayPal answers by email.
   5. If they ask for more, send it and keep everything in writing: PayPal says its phone team usually can't remove a limitation.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: paypal.com · paypal.com · paypal.com · paypal.com · external accounts · 2

2. official route

   Permanently limited: wait out the hold, then withdraw when the email comes

   1. Know what the agreement says: PayPal can hold your balance for up to 180 days if it believes that is needed to protect against liability, and longer if a court order or a regulator requires it.
   2. Write down the date the limitation started and keep the email address on the account one you can read: people who got their money say an email arrived after the hold telling them they could withdraw.
   3. When it arrives, withdraw to a bank account or card in your own name. Some were only allowed part at first and withdrew the rest later.
   4. If 180 days have passed and no email has come, don't just keep waiting: file a formal complaint and take it to the regulator (see the other ways out).

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: paypal.com · financial-ombudsman.org.uk · financial-ombudsman.org.uk · external accounts · 2 · 3

3. official route

   Complain to the regulator or ombudsman

   1. First file a formal complaint with PayPal and keep the date and any reference: every body below asks for it.
   2. US: file with the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB says most companies respond within 15 days.
   3. UK: if PayPal hasn't answered within 15 days (35 at most) or you disagree with its final answer, go to the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of that answer. The ombudsman says it can look at e-money firms, PayPal included, that unfairly restrict an account.
   4. EU/EEA (PayPal Europe): after PayPal's complaint and Head of Complaints Office steps, or a month with no answer, take it to the CSSF in Luxembourg within one year of your first complaint. In Spain, PayPal also lists Banco de España.
   5. Attach the dates, PayPal's emails, the amount held and what you ask for: that your balance is released.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: consumerfinance.gov · financial-ombudsman.org.uk · cssf.lu · paypal.com · clientebancario.bde.es · financial-ombudsman.org.uk · external accounts · 2 · 3

4. workaround

   Put it in writing, above first-line support

   1. Write a short, polite letter: you want your balance released (not necessarily the account back), attach the documents that prove your identity or your sales, and say you will go to the regulator if it isn't resolved.
   2. Send it through PayPal's official channel for your country: the complaints page (UK, EU, Spain) or the Contact Us page (US).
   3. Several people who got their funds released sent that letter to [email protected]. PayPal does not publish that address on its own pages, so we could not confirm it.
   4. Some US account holders also filed a complaint about PayPal with the Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) before their account came back.
   5. Stick to facts and documents. Don't beg and don't threaten.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: paypal.com · paypal.com · paypal.com · paypal.com · external accounts · 2 · 3 · 4

5. official route

   Claim it in small claims court

   1. US: PayPal's user agreement lets you take a dispute to small claims court instead of arbitration, but first you must send a signed Notice of Dispute by certified mail to PayPal, Inc., Attn: Legal Specialists, Re: Notice of Dispute, P.O. Box 45950, Omaha, NE 68145-0950, and give 60 days to negotiate.
   2. England and Wales: you can claim money you are owed from a business at the county court, online or by post. There are court fees.
   3. Claim only the balance that is yours, with the proof of where it came from.

   These are accounts published elsewhere. They are not outcomes achieved or independently verified by Rantr, and may describe different circumstances.

   Sources: paypal.com · gov.uk · external accounts

6. prevention

   Avoid the traps while your money is held

   1. Check any 'account limited' email against the Resolution Center; forward fakes to [email protected].
   2. PayPal said its X support account @AskPayPal would be discontinued and stay open only until 1 September 2026, so don't expect support there. Don't call numbers posted in replies and don't pay anyone who offers to unlock your funds.
   3. Know that a new account can be limited too: PayPal's user agreement lists controlling an account linked to one that broke its rules as a restricted activity.
   4. Move money out of PayPal regularly instead of keeping a large balance there.
   5. If your account was hacked, that is a different problem: in the Resolution Center choose Report a problem, then 'I want to report unauthorized activity'. PayPal says it answers by email within 10 days.

   Sources: paypal.com · x.com · paypal.com · paypal.com